Norman Solomon's books include "False Hope: The Politics of Illusion in the Clinton Era," "Unreliable Sources: A Guide to Detecting Bias in the News Media" and "The Power of Babble." He writes a nationally syndicated column called "Media Beat."

Jeff Cohen is the founder and executive director of FAIR (Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting), the media watch organization.

Fortunately for our sanity and self-respect, there have always been the muckrakers; those few who have challenged the official truth, who have obstinately sought ought the hard truth.

In Upton Sinclair's time, there were Lincoln Steffens and Ida Tarbell, among the contumacious troublemakers. Further along came the indomitable George Seldes and his "Lords of the Press" as well as his wondrous newsletter, "In Fact," that kept us from living in total darkness. And, of course, the north star of independent journalists, I.F. Stone and his revelatory weekly.

Today we are blessed with a couple of young investigative journalists, Norman Solomon and Jeff Cohen, who, along with their media watch colleagues at FAIR, are letting in the light. In FAIR's magazine, "Extra!," I am finding all the news that the Respectables find unfit to print. It is great therapy for me; it keeps my blood pressure down and my skull from going numb.

Now, Solomon and Cohen have gathered some of their columns into a lovely compendium, undressing the "liberal media." They call it WIZARDS OF MEDIA OZ: BEHIND THE CURTAIN OF MAINSTREAM NEWS. It is an eye-opener.

Don't leave home without it.

-From the Introduction by Studs Terkel